Determination sparks hope. Having a plan, a place to start, puts haste into Sakura's steps as she makes her way towards the training grounds, with one she knows will be empty in mind as her destination.

Training Ground Forty-four.

Where better to face the truth of her own death than the Forest of Death?

Admittedly, some of her memories of the Forest of Death as Shisui carry with them warmth and fondness. A training exercise with Itachi as a genin. An exercise he'd never have asked Itachi to join him on if he knew that Itachi promised to spend time with Sasuke.

For somebody who cared so much about his little brother, Itachi spent a lot of time avoiding him.

With all of the hero-worship he had for Itachi, did that make me his villain? Taking his beloved brother away when he promised to spend time with him? I wouldn't have done it if I knew Itachi promised that. I could have found another genin for the training exercises.

Her heart aches with the desire to tell Sasuke the truth of the massacre. If she disagrees with any one action of Itachi's, it's his decision to commit suicide by proxy. Sasuke doesn't deserve the life of hate laid out before him, but she'll be damned if she doesn't try to remedy that as much as she can this time.

And for the Third to let the end of the Uchiha play out like that, how much can she trust him?

The Forest of Death envelops her with its heavy atmosphere, air thick with humidity and the rancid scents of poisonous plants and creatures, those dead and those eating the scraps. Yet the numerous obstacles do not slow her as she bounds from branch to branch, farther and farther into its heart. Each step brings with it a flash into another life. His life.

Her life.

No, she reminds herself. Seeing them as simultaneous is what's getting you into trouble. You are Sakura Haruno. Your parents are merchants. You have no clan.

"I sound crazy telling myself that I'm not myself," she mumbles under her breath.

She finds an ancient tree with its roots erupting from the ground and creating a hollow at the base and settles herself within. She doesn't know how long she'll be talking with the crows, but at least she'll have some shelter.

The hand signs come naturally, and a crow that's average in all aspects other than its eyes, deep with eternal wisdom, appears.

"Dear child," he says, "from the beginning we saw that you are mired in conflict. Now, I see that pain echoes through your very soul. I wish that you'd called sooner."

"I called for you as soon as I could."

The crow pecks at her forehead. "Time is a funny thing. A fickle thing. I'm Hibiki."

Sakura lowers her head in a slight bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It would be a pleasure, were the circumstances better," Hibiki says, tilting his head to the side. "Though, if the circumstances were better, we would not be meeting. So, sure. Sure. A pleasure, this is."

Hibiki isn't what Sakura expected when she summoned a crow for help, but there are many crows in her flock and they can be as diverse as people. She's certain she's never had the chance to interact or work with all of them.

"Can you fix me?" Sakura asks, her voice sounding smaller than she would have liked.

"I can only guide you. The real work is something you have to do."

Sakura takes a deep breath, exhaling away her worries that even the crows would not be able to help. She can do the work. She will do the work.

"I greatly welcome any guidance you have to offer."

Hibiki pecks at her forehead again, and she starts to view the gesture as equal parts endearing and chiding. "While I appreciate your manners, and I feel the sincerity of your gratitude, such eloquence does not suit you, child. Sakura. Shisui. There are traits that transcend lifetimes. That defy death. Then, there are traits that separate lifetimes. Ones that belong to Sakura, but did not belong to Shisui, and vice versa. Your first step to leaving the past behind is to figure out the traits that belong to Sakura alone."

Sakura nods. "I can do that," she says.

"You must."

"I must. Ino needs me to. Sasuke needs me to. I need it."

"Begin with this, and tell me what about you is different from your last life when you summon me again," Hibiki says before he leaves in a whirlwind of black feathers.


Sakura lingers in the hollow until the sun begins to rise, and then she sneaks back into her bedroom. Thanking any gods out there that her parents aren't shinobi.

Images of the Naka Shrine flash through her head. Secret meetings and the upkeep of traditions happened there.

Shisui had a patron deity. He may have had thoughts that the Uchiha were abandoned by that deity-any deity-long ago, but he still participated in those traditions for the comfort they brought.

Sakura does not have a patron deity, or any particular deity to worship. The Haruno family prays for safety and for their business. They're very generalized prayers.

And that brings the separations between her lives to two. Civilian parents and no patron deity. It isn't a great list yet, but it's a start. Hibiki would be happy about that. Small progress is better than no progress, after all.

However, for the moment there isn't much she can do other than think and keep trying to add to her list, but her eyes droop and her limbs weigh her down.

A few hours of sleep before heading to the academy would be good.

Even with her mind abuzz with scattered thoughts spanning both lifetimes, she falls asleep soon after her head reaches the pillow.


Sakura taps the eraser of her pencil on the blank sheet of paper in her notebook. She likes Iruka well enough, and she's sure that most of the other students are interested in his lessons.

The problem is that she's lived all the lessons he's taught, has yet to teach, and those that cannot be taught in a classroom or through a spar.

No, Shisui has. Sakura has not. Her body doesn't have his scars. The blood he spilled through years of working in the shadows for Konoha is not on her hands.

She hasn't been stitched together in an operating room in hopes that it'll keep her alive. She hasn't carried teammates back to Konoha at a breakneck pace as their lives drained away on her back.

She's already spilled blood, but she doesn't have to live that life again if she doesn't want to. Her parents are merchants. They want her to take over their business. She could. She could have a life away from battle.

As she takes a moment to really consider that option, Iruka calls her name and looks at her expectantly.

She tries to find clues as to what he asked from the chalkboard, but can't figure it out. "I, um, I don't know."

He sighs. "I asked if you were alright, Sakura. It's not like you to stare into space like that."

Which is true, but only because of her being very careful to at least appear to be paying attention.

"Oh," she says, plastering a grin on her face like Shisui did so many times to give the impression of being happy-go-lucky. "I'm fine. It's… just really nice out today. Or it looks like it is from the windows."

Iruka glances out the window, then back at her. "Well, luckily for you we'll be running an obstacle course outside after our lunch break. Until then, try to be present."

Sakura nods, and Iruka returns to his lesson.

No, though Shisui and Sakura have different lives, they have one soul. A soul destined to fight. To protect Konoha. Especially from the threats that lie within the village. She has the experience so embedded in her soul that all of Shisui's efforts and skills bleed into this life, and she will use them to be better than him. She will avoid the scars that he received, and she will receive her own. Save the lives and take down the enemies Shisui could not.

Danzo will fall, and it will be by her hands.


As a child of war whose academy days were short, Shisui never got to do obstacle courses to hone his budding abilities. As such, the notion strikes Sakura as odd. There has to be something more to it than running through trees, right? But what sort of obstacles of the appropriate level would Iruka be able to include?

The other students, however, seem glad for the chance to stretch their legs and do something physical rather than sit in a classroom. In that aspect, she can agree with this being the better option.

Which leads her to the question: how should she perform on the obstacle course? Her charade of being average would be difficult to pull off here since she has no reference as to what average looks like for her classmates in an obstacle course. Sparring and paperwork are easy, but this is uncharted territory.

How is Sakura when it comes to physical activity? It isn't sparring. It wouldn't give her that much of an advantage or prodigious status (she can't imagine why it would). She did lie and say that she's a sensor type to Akira, and if that spread by now, she should give a little more effort to this exercise than she does others.

Ino's hand on her shoulder jolts her out of her thoughts. "When I see you thinking so intently, Sakura, it worries me."

Sakura swats her hand away. "I'm not even going to ask what you mean by that because I know that I'll only get your snark in response, Ino."

"You really think so low of me?" Ino asks. Her face shows concern, but just like Itachi, it's the eyes that betray her amusement.

"I absolutely do."

Ino pouts, and Sakura rolls her eyes.

"See? I think part of your problem is thinking too much," Ino says. "Once you've snapped out of your thoughts, you're just Sakura."

"'Just Sakura,' she says. But you might have a point. Easier said than done, of course."

Ino shrugs. "Most things worth doing are."

How painfully true.

"Well, I think I'm up next," Sakura says, as the student in front of her is allowed to enter the course, delayed to give the one before him time to get ahead. "Wish me luck."

Ino raises an eyebrow. "You think you'll need it?"

"Well, according to you, I shouldn't be thinking at all."

Iruka calling her up saves her from any response of Ino's.

He nods at her, and she enters into the sectioned off path in a forested area near the academy.

At first glance, the course doesn't seem like much, but she admits that she could be biased based on the lifetime of experience she has tucked in her soul. The path that will lead her to the end consists of trees marked with a kunai. She spots the traps waiting to be sprung, and notices that Iruka must have somebody helping and resetting them before the next student is allowed to start the course. Not that it surprises her. Alternatively, he could have clones of himself assisting.

Either way, it doesn't matter. The traps don't go beyond the basic ones that they've been taught. Trip wires that will unleash weapons. Ropes on the ground waiting to grasp an ankle and hoist somebody upside down. Given the scuff marks in the dirt around the leaves that have been thrown atop the rope to hide it, it's found at least one victim.

Sakura breaks out into laughter at the thought of her classmates hanging upside down, caught by something so simple, and wonders who it was. Probably not Sasuke, but the image of him dangling in her mind makes her laugh harder.

With the tension of life and death weighing on her lifted in her mirth, she picks up the pace and dances through the course. Ino said she thinks too much, so she doesn't think at all. She lets herself move as though she was born to be in the woods and avoid the traps laid out for her, and perhaps she was.

This is the dance that makes her blood flow. The dance whose movements are so ingrained in her muscles, that she is able to clear her mind and enjoy the scent of the forest and feel fresh air on her face.

She opts to not trip one of the traps to test if she's faster than the projectiles it unleashes (she is, but she likes to prove it to herself now and then), so she arrives at the end of the course unscathed.

To meet her at the end is not an Iruka clone, but rather Mizuki, Iruka's occasional assistant teacher. He's slouching with his hands in his pockets, limp grey hair hanging in his face. The posterboy of unearned attitude and arrogance. As he sees her come to a stop, his eyes graze over her and one eyebrow quirks up ever so slightly that a regular academy student wouldn't notice.

Unfortunately for him, Sakura is anything but regular.

"You get to claim the best time for completion so far, Haruno," he says.

She gives him a nonchalant shrug. "I felt in my element, that's all."

"If that's your element, then you could become a truly threatening shinobi," he says.

She tries to smile, but Mizuki makes her skin crawl. She doesn't have any memories of him from her days as Shisui, but she mostly socialized within the circles of the Uchiha Clan, ROOT, and ANBU. As she recalls from Iruka's introduction of him, he's a chunin. So, it makes sense that she wouldn't have crossed paths with him as Shisui. And, as a chunin, Danzo wouldn't have bothered luring Mizuki into his dark plots, a thought which gives her a bit of comfort.

However, the way he appraises her makes her feel like a piece of meat. She'd call his smirk a leer if he didn't come off more like a petty playground bully who just found a new target and can't wait to make plans for them.

"Well, I'm done then, right? Where should I wait with the other students who have finished so far?" she asks.

Mizuki coughs into his hand a few times. "Yes, of course. They're waiting in the school yard, where classes hold sparring sessions outside."

Sakura gives him a curt nod and walks towards the school yard at a brisk pace, but not fast enough that Mizuki will suspect her of running from him. As much as she'd like to shunshin away from his creepy ass, she doesn't want him to realize that she suspects him of something.

What that something is, well, she's not sure yet. She'll have to speak with Ino later and see if she knows anything about the man. Given that her penchant for having information she shouldn't has carried over from her life as Itachi, she's the best starting point Sakura can think of.

She's lost in thought until the school yard is in sight, and she is pulled back to reality by Naruto yelling, "Sakura-chan!"

The kid doesn't deserve the hate he gets, so Sakura tries—she really does—to be nice to him. According to Ino, he'll grow up to be a great man.

That's a little hard to believe now, but she's not a fortune teller. Besides, Ino has no reason to lie about it.

So, she raises her hand to wave at him in greeting as she joins up with the rest of her classmates who've been through the course so far.

"How'd you do?" Naruto asks.

Now that she's closer, she sees a bruise forming on Naruto's cheek. From one of the wooden kunai, if she had to guess.

Sakura waves her hand dismissively. "You know, well enough."

Naruto gives her a bright grin, and she sees so much of both his parents in him. To keep his parentage secret is cruel, and it's unbelievable to her how nobody has seemed to put the clues together. It seems even more unlikely that those who did put together that Naruto is the son of the Fourth would keep quiet about their realization.

As Shisui, she met plenty of children from prominent lineages. She saw how often they acted as though their parents' achievements were their own. Would Naruto be different if he knew?

Would Konoha treat him better? How they can be so cruel to the son of heroes baffles her.

Ino said Naruto would be a great man, so Sakura makes a promise to herself that she'll help him as much as possible. Annoying or not.

So she returns the smile and nods.

To help and support both Sasuke and Naruto is Sakura's goal. A goal that is purely Sakura's, not Shisui's.

It feels… good.

Ino joins her in the school yard shortly, her expression as serene as ever. Sakura doesn't bother asking her about her performance in the obstacle course.

"I did it, Ino," Sakura says.

Ino raises an eyebrow, always able to communicate so much with the slightest expressions.

"I stopped thinking for a bit."

"Did it work?"

"It didn't make it worse. Maybe I just need more practice at it, but it got me through the course. It was kinda fun, actually."

"Maybe we should celebrate after class," Ino says.

Sakura waves the suggestion off. "It's not celebration worthy, but I'd like to talk to you about something anyway. Maybe we could stop for some tea and sweets before going home."

"I have no objections to that."

Of course not. A sweet tooth can transcend lifetimes, and Sakura thinks that it can develop anew. She certainly likes sweets and tea more than Shisui, but maybe it's because she's had more time to sit and enjoy those small pleasures in life. Or it's because she has parents to treat her to sweets, and that makes them a little more special.

Either way, that's one more addition to her list.


"You wanted to talk?" Ino asks, waiting for her tea to cool.

"Do you know much about Mizuki?" Sakura takes a bite of sweet bread that's shaped like a turtle. Which she ordered because she likes sweet bread. Not because it's adorable.

"Iruka's assistant? Hardly anything," Ino says. "I've only come across him in class."

"I have a bad feeling about him," Sakura says with a mouthful of bread. "Given his skill level, he can't do anything too major, but I don't know. I'll keep an eye out, but it's good to know that you don't have any hidden knowledge of him. Can't be that bad, then."

Ino nods. "I'll see if I can find anything about Mizuki. If there's anything to be found about him."

Sakura takes a drink from her tea. She doesn't remember which kind Ino ordered, but it's good. "It could be fun. Ruining somebody's plans for once instead of being a pawn in them."

"Perhaps, but I think today was a victory anyway. I saw more Sakura than Shisui from you. You're starting to sprout into your own person."

Sakura rolls her eyes. "You gotta relate it to flowers? Really, Ino?"

Ino shrugs one shoulder, and they both laugh.

This feels right. She feels a spark of life and hope for the future, rather than the oppression of her past life's failures.